This snuffbox is struck on lid and base with maker’s mark IIH crowned above a partially visible symbol. These initials correspond with those of Jean Jacob Héritier (c.1745–1803), who at the time of his marriage to Susanne Marie André in Hanau in 1774 was identified as a bijoutier. Afterwards Héritier is recorded as a married apprentice – of advanced years compared with most apprentices – of Esaias Obicker. The earliest surviving tax freedom, Personalfreiheit, granted to Héritier is dated 1779, but there could have been earlier ones that are now lost. Based on style, the apparent dates of the snuffboxes marked IIH are slightly earlier than those of the extant documents connected with Héritier’s career. However, since Héritier was identified as a bijoutier prior to his apprenticeship with Obicker, it is conceivable that he was already using his own mark. It is interesting to note that no known boxes with this particular IIH mark would appear to date later than Héritier’s grant of Personalfreiheit in 1779.

The fact that none of the boxes are struck with the Hanau shell or bird-head carat marks, instigated in 1764, could fuel the argument against assigning the work to Hanau. Absence of the marks does not, however, rule out the city, since only members of the Gesellschaft were obliged to use them on their boxes, and even they did not always do so.

Undated designs for the chased decoration of snuffboxes showing coastal landscapes with ruins and shipping are included in an album assembled at a later date, today in the collection of the Bibliothek der Zeichenakademie Hanau, illustrated below.

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